Chapter 56 The Contradiction of the Great Peace Sect
The Contradiction of the Great Peace Sect
Episode 57
Park Se-eun's heart pounded violently.
Black miasma swirled in her vision, and she was surrounded by thousands of zombies.
But now...
—Kieeeeeeeek!
Light scattered like snowflakes.
The pitch-black air was instantly purified, and the zombies collapsed as they were swept away by the radiance.
'Wh-what the hell is this...?'
Park Se-eun remembered.
Zombie bodies were like stone, and those creatures that craved human flesh didn't care about pain.
Monsters she couldn't even begin to take lightly.
When the surroundings had been filled with such monsters, she had honestly felt nothing but despair.
Even the Saintess candidates were no different.
For a brief moment, she regretted following Park Si-hyun out here for no reason.
But it was truly just a moment.
Park Si-hyun and Kim Seon-hwa locked arms and unleashed a torrent of light.
—Kueeeeeek!
The zombies crumbled like dominos, melting away under the radiance. Even those not directly hit by the light were no exception.
The Sacred Power purified the air. The zombies' flesh burned away in golden flames.
—Gruaaaaah!
She had never imagined that zombies—creatures that disregarded their own bodies—would writhe in agony.
'How is this even possible...?'
Park Se-eun's gaze landed on Park Si-hyun.
He was gripping a sword that emitted light.
A sacred sword—anyone who played RPGs could guess its identity.
A Holy Sword.
She had heard about it from Si-hyun before.
The most effective power against the undead.
『Sacred Power』
But...
—At most, the early-game Sacred Power can only purify a few zombies nearby before running out.
That was how severely he had underestimated it.
Yet now, he had annihilated the zombies with that very same power.
"...Ha, ha..."
A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
Only then did she realize her thighs were trembling.
She had been ready to throw her life away just to ensure her brother—who had come to this hellscape to save her—could escape...
But all that resolve had been meaningless.
Far from it, she even understood Si-hyun's confidence now.
"Bet you pissed yourself, huh?"
"Sh-shut up..."
At this point, there was no way she couldn't understand why he had been so self-assured.
Park Si-hyun had grown too strong.
'Making people worry for nothing...'
Though she was inwardly sulking, tears of relief welled up in the corners of her eyes.
"Damn bastard... Hah, you're so fucking strong... Could've at least said something sooner..."
She swallowed the rest of her words—I was worried, you know.
He was strong.
In just the few days since she'd last seen him, he had become absurdly powerful.
To the point where she felt embarrassed for ever acting like she could protect him.
"Hey. You don't trust your big bro?"
"...Would you trust someone like you? You piece of shit."
"...Don't go around telling people you're my little sister."
She sniffled and grumbled, but before she knew it, she was smiling faintly along with him.
'Big brother... really did come to save me.'
The zombies rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames clinging to their bodies.
But their resistance was short-lived. The corpses purified by Sacred Power crumbled into ash.
Black Magic Power and Sacred Power were polar opposites.
And Sacred Power was superior.
So he had converted all his mana into Sacred Power and unleashed it in an explosion.
『Mana: 0 / 628』
Every last drop of mana had been drained into Sacred Power, and there was no reserve left. Another attack like that was impossible.
But.
『Seizing Stamina and Mana from the eliminated zombies.』
As long as there were enemies he could eliminate, his power would never run dry.
『Mana: 321 / 425』
The overlapping powers were being stolen from all around him.
Uuuung—
When it came to combat endurance, this was the most exceptional ability.
As long as he had 『Seize』, sheer numbers meant nothing.
"Holy shit..."
Meanwhile, the Saintess candidates were utterly dumbfounded by the unbelievable sight.
The zombies were engulfed in golden flames, crumbling into dust.
Because they had suffered under those monsters before, it was even harder to believe.
But that didn't matter right now.
'H-holy shit, he's so hot...'
Park Si-hyun was too handsome. The Saintesses screamed internally.
And Kang So-eun, who had been watching from above, scowled.
Every woman was entranced by Park Si-hyun, radiant with Sacred Power.
'...You really have no choice but to be a playboy, huh?'
He wasn't the kind of man who could stay hidden even if he tried.
Right. He was someone who had to stand out, who had to shine no matter where he was. Any woman would inevitably fall for him—structurally, unavoidably.
In that case, at the very least, she didn't want to yield the position of his most cherished wife to anyone. That was Kang So-eun's last shred of pride. And besides, she was more confident than any other woman that she loved him the most.
'I'll become stronger than any woman... the one you love most... the most important person to you...'
And to do that, she had to destroy the Great Peace Sect first.
Kang So-eun moved.
* * *
Park Si-hyun spoke.
"What're you doing? Aren't you gonna call your mom?"
The goddess—the mother—worshipped by the devotees of the Great Peace Sect.
『The Sovereign of Corpses』
The "mother" Park Si-hyun mentioned referred to her.
The sect leader, who had been resisting the lingering Sacred Power in the air, spat out blood.
His teeth ground together with a grating sound. His fury was far greater than what could be seen.
"You—you dare... How dare you utter such blasphemy toward our mother, whom we can scarcely even worship enough?!"
The corners of the sect leader's eyes trembled with rage.
As he inhaled the air still saturated with Sacred Power once more, his body convulsed with a rejection so violent it felt like his heart would burst. In the midst of it, his spirit seemed to leave him.
Park Si-hyun linked arms with Kim Seon-hwa again. Multiple spheres of light formed before their outstretched palms.
The nightmare he had just endured flashed through his mind once more.
If another bombardment like that were to descend upon them, even he couldn't guarantee his own survival.
H-How can he wield such power again...?
It made no sense.
But it was happening right before his eyes.
Frantically, he scanned his surroundings.
"Kkhh—kghh..."
The Law Enforcer struggled to rise, but his body refused to obey, collapsing over and over again. The Magistrate's aged frame was buried beneath the rubble of the ruined shrine.
"Kuaaaaagh!"
The other fanatics, deeply intertwined with Black Magic Power, convulsed violently under the Sacred Power's assault.
The majority of the zombies were swept away.
A single exchange had decided the battle.
And now, that same decisive strike was about to be unleashed a second time.
There was no way he could withstand such overwhelming Sacred Power.
...Am I... losing?
They had numbered in the thousands.
With such overwhelming numbers surrounding a handful of enemies, defeat had been unthinkable.
Who could have imagined that a single person would obliterate thousands of monsters in one strike?
It was absurd. It shouldn't have been possible.
Yet it was happening right now.
Huuuuung—
Park Si-hyun's hand interlaced with Kim Seon-hwa's as if locking fingers.
Golden spheres of swelling Sacred Power filled the air.
...I can't win.
As the Sacred Power intensified, the sect leader's face burned as if melting. Desperately, he sought a way out.
"You—you are committing an unforgivable sin! No organization on this Earth has contributed as much as our Great Peace Sect! Do you even realize that?!"
His voice carried such desperate conviction that even a listener might waver. His words were steeped in raw sincerity.
"We have reined in the calamity of zombies on this Earth and brought peace to the people. With our own hands, we built a world where no one had to tremble in fear. And now, you seek to destroy that? Are you trying to throw all those who have suffered back into that hell?!"
Huu—
A deep sigh suddenly escaped. Park Si-hyun narrowed his eyes and took a slow, measured breath.
"The Great Peace Sect... Right. ...I'll acknowledge your contributions. In this Apocalypse, you controlled the zombies and saved many lives. I'll give you that."
A glimmer of hope flickered across the sect leader's face.
"But."
Park Si-hyun pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket.
A stiff document covered in intricate, curling script.
It was the paperwork required for promotion to a full-fledged member of the Great Peace Sect.
"You shouldn't have made a contract with the 'Lord of Corpses.'"
The contract crumpled loudly in Park Si-hyun's grip.
His brow furrowed deeply.
"If you'd contracted with any other Administrator, I would've supported you. Hell, I might've even lent a hand if you'd asked. But you... in the end, you made a deal with the Lord of Corpses."
If only he could have... Park Si-hyun would have summoned an Administrator of the Tower to Earth himself.
With that, they could have overcome this crisis of mass slaughter with external power.
But Park Si-hyun was nothing more than a Possessor.
His knowledge of the world came only from the game—he had no concrete understanding of magic or sorcery.
So he didn't know the rituals needed to contract with an Administrator.
But someone else did.
And yet, that person had no intention of saving everyone.
"Sect Leader of the Great Peace Sect. You truly are the head of a despicable organization."
Park Si-hyun thrust the crumpled contract forward.
The sect leader's shoulders flinched at the sight.
A blue light shimmered in Park Si-hyun's irises.
「Read」 began deciphering the text—not in Earth's language, but in 「Sorcerous Script」.
"Article 5 [Fulfillment of the Contract]: Upon entering the Tower, Party B shall immediately offer the lives of all contracted members to Party A. In exchange, Parties B, C, D, E, F, and G shall receive Party A's grace and support within the Tower."
The sect leader's face darkened.
"Even looking at these terms, you're nothing but frauds hiding behind the mask of saviors. You planned to sacrifice all your believers as offerings, you fucking bastards."
A massive shockwave tore through the chapel.
* * *
There is no such thing as goodwill without cost.
Why did the Lord of Corpses grant her believers stat boosts?
'Obviously, it was to reap a greater harvest.'
Entities willing to suffer losses out of sheer generosity were nearly nonexistent in the Tower.
From the very beginning—
'The Lord of Corpses was never the type to take losses for others' sake.'
But suppose,
if there were conditions under which every member of the Great Peace Sect could be gathered as corpses...
'The Lord of Corpses would've agreed to it with the same casualness as picking up a clean 100-won coin off the street.'
Thus, this contract was drafted with terms that precisely accounted for the Lord of Corpses' temperament.
In other words, it contained only the simplest clauses—ones the Lord of Corpses wouldn't find bothersome.
This was a contract that could never have been written by someone who didn't truly understand the Lord of Corpses.
Moreover, it had to be composed in a highly advanced language of curses—one so refined that even the Tower's Administrator would find it intriguing.
But Earth had no knowledge of magic or curses.
Yet, this contract was written in a level of curse language so advanced that even the current Tower's standards couldn't replicate it.
So then, the person who drafted this contract... could only be one of two things...
"So you're babbling about some language you can't even recognize. Heretic."
The sect leader swiftly refuted.
Even if Park Si-hyun's words were true, he could deny it—these ignorant humans wouldn't be able to recognize that language anyway.
As expected.
The believers didn't believe it either. Their eyes burned with nothing but fervor to protect the Great Peace Sect.
A smirk crept onto the sect leader's lips.
Park Si-hyun was undoubtedly a strong individual who underestimated numbers.
But strictly speaking, he too was a believer who had signed a contract with the Great Peace Sect.
When he joined, he had clearly signed the contract. His soul had been pledged.
So if given enough time to enforce his obedience as a believer, the sect leader could make him kneel.
And now, that time had finally arrived.
He had stalled long enough.
"<Believers. Kneel.>"
The power of the curse resonated in his voice.
Park Si-hyun's eyes flickered in surprise as he glanced at the sect leader.
THUD!
Kim Yeong-han and the other believers slammed their knees onto the ground.
These were believers who had sold even their souls for power.
The sect leader watched Park Si-hyun, whose bewildered gaze flickered back at him.
He, too, had signed the contract of his own will.
Park Si-hyun was nothing more than a believer who couldn't defy the sect leader's commands.
'This is your defeat.'
A sneer curled on the sect leader's lips.
But then...
"......?"
Why was Park Si-hyun still standing?
No, the people around him weren't kneeling either—they remained perfectly upright.
Silence stretched.
Park Si-hyun stared back at the sect leader, his gaze growing sharper with each passing second.
"......?"
The sect leader furrowed his brows and glared at him. Park Si-hyun returned the look with equal confusion.
Somehow, a staring contest had broken out.
"Huh? Old man. You don't look so good. Something the matter?"
Park Si-hyun grinned mockingly, and the sect leader's face twitched in disbelief.
The contract fluttered in Park Si-hyun's hand. The signature line read 'Park Hyeon-si.'
But what mattered was that he had written that alias himself.
The document bore a circular curse pattern—proof that the contract had been completed. It meant his soul had been directly bound.
Park Si-hyun had undoubtedly made a contract with the Lord of Corpses.
So then... why did his smile look so sinister?
"You... you don't even know half of what's written in this contract, do you?"
The sect leader's eyes trembled.
Only then did he realize—Park Se-eun and the others weren't kneeling either.
Park Si-hyun casually unfolded the crumpled contract.
"I'll be nice and spell it out for you. Unless it's a high-density contract between individuals, mass-produced contracts like this can't forcibly bind someone's life with such restrictive terms. So at best, it only establishes a direct relationship if I willingly offer something in exchange."
If a single signature could strip away a player's freedom, what fun would that be?
Probably none.
This was, after all, an eroge.
Aside from combat and Park Ha-rin, the game didn't cram in many system elements that would annoy players.
Mass-produced contracts required the recipient to strongly desire the terms. Signing the contract wasn't the end. Such precise agreements couldn't be enforced with a flimsy scrap of paper anyone could get their hands on.
This was nothing more than a medium.
If someone truly wished for it, they could become a pawn of the Lord of Corpses in exchange for a price.
But Park Si-hyun had never wanted that.
So while the curse pattern had appeared when he signed, strictly speaking, it was only a temporary contract.
No, digging deeper—this contract itself was an act of fraud the Tower wouldn't recognize.
The value of life might be fundamentally equal from a human perspective, but the Tower never treated people's worth the same.
So from the Tower's standpoint, it was unacceptable for someone worth 100 and someone worth 1 to die equally within the contract's timeframe just because of a piece of paper.
The Tower wasn't lenient enough to dismiss such a thing as the fault of those who didn't pray for it.
Even blaming the victim required a certain degree of fairness.
Thus, the sect leader—who hadn't fully understood the contract's contents—had been blindsided.
"Elite devotees! Execute Park Si-hyun immediately!"
The cult leader's urgency intensified.
From the second-floor terrace, hundreds of sniper rifles were aimed at Park Si-hyun.
But Park Si-hyun struck first.
"Leader. I will seize your contract's authority."
Park Si-hyun's irises glowed blue.
"!"
The cult leader shuddered in shock as something within him was forcibly ripped away.
And then—
『Park Si-hyun seizes a portion of the leader's authority, established through the contract with the Lord of Corpses.』
The tide of battle turned.
"<For the Great Peace Sect, those who have plundered the lives of the innocent—kill yourselves now.>"
Park Si-hyun's voice carried the weight of the cult leader's authority. The horrified leader immediately countered.
""
But Park Si-hyun didn't stop at mere seizure.
His blue eyes blazed with an intense light. The sheer force of his presence alone distorted the surrounding air.
『The authority established through the contract with the Lord of Corpses reacts strongly to □□□□□.』
『Amplifies the seized authority of the cult leader.』
『Amplifies Optimal Progression to its limit.』
Kim Seon-hwa clasped Park Si-hyun's hand.
『Kim Seon-hwa amplifies Park Si-hyun's authority.』
What had been only a fraction of authority now surpassed half its full capacity in an instant.
The elite devotees who had been preparing to snipe Park Si-hyun split in their reactions. The fanatics who failed to resist the command pressed trembling gun barrels beneath their own chins.
"A—Aaaaah!"
"S-Stop!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The piercing gunshots drowned out the chorus of screams.
"Aah... Aaah..."
The surviving half of the fanatics stood drenched in their comrades' blood, paralyzed by panic.
"G-Guh, my—my hand—s-someone stop me!"
Even in the first-floor chapel, devotees began strangling themselves.
All of them were those who had killed others for the sake of the Great Peace Sect.
"Grrrk!"
The cult leader gnashed his teeth hard enough to crack them and roared.
"Executor!! Tirpe! Where are you?!"
He searched for the missing executive who had vanished before the fight even began. But she was nowhere to be seen.
'D-Did she run...? Or has she lost her mind...?'
The cult leader trembled uncontrollably, his eyes bloodshot with frustration. No matter what, this was the worst possible situation.
No—something even worse still awaited.
"I'll borrow your authority for a moment."
The beauty disguised as the deputy leader stretched out her hand toward the cult leader.
『Kim Seon-hwa borrows the cult leader's authority.』
"<Resume the suicide command.>"
The moment Kim Seon-hwa's eyes shimmered with blue light—
Park Si-hyun was holding her hand.
『Park Si-hyun amplifies Kim Seon-hwa's authority.』
"<Ignore the command!!>"
Even as the cult leader's furious roar shook the chapel, gunfire erupted once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Drops of blood scattered through the air, raining down from the second floor.
"......"
Only a fifth of the fanatics remained, dropping their rifles as their will to fight shattered.
Devotees watching from below covered their mouths, trembling at the sight of blood dripping from the terrace.
It was far more gruesome than they had imagined.
But most of them had suffered under the fanatics' cruelty.
Instead, they felt a prickling hope—that they might actually win this fight.
No, perhaps it was presumptuous, but some even felt a twisted sense of satisfaction.
Park Si-hyun raised the contract document and shouted.
"I formally protest to the Tower! These contract terms should never have been valid! This is a clear case of the Tower's corruption—!"
But his lips, still spilling words, suddenly lost color and froze.
Creak.
Only now did he realize—the air had long since begun flowing unnaturally.
The once-clear air, purified by sacred power, now cowered as if trembling in fear, losing all vitality. Everything slowed, growing sluggish.
Even light seemed to refuse its duty, dimming the world by a shade.
<Why must you be so troublesome...>
A gloomy resonance draped over the world.
Like a glimpse of dark clouds parting, without any sense of dissonance—naturally...
A translucent woman fell from above.
In that instant, not a single breath could be heard.
An indescribably unpleasant energy brushed past them all.
It was just a gaze.
Yet the world held its breath before this presence.
Between strands of black hair fading into white, lifeless eyelids slowly opened.
A complex, inhuman pupil gazed down at the chapel.
Everyone froze under that single blink. Too terrified to even feel fear, they could only stare blankly upward.
Their minds stalled, confronted by an incomprehensible existence.
Even Park Si-hyun trembled, unable to grasp the strangeness of this being.
『Optimal Progression is still in effect.』
Yet, barely, he managed to resist the pressure.
As if sensing him, the gaze fixed onto Park Si-hyun.
He looked back.
Their eyes locked perfectly.
The woman, upside-down, took in the chapel with a single glance.
Her nearly ghostly, translucent face held no trace of vitality.
An absolute existence, indifferent to the world's destruction.
『Lord of Corpses』
The indolent Tower's Administrator.
The goddess of the Great Peace Sect had arrived.